Albert Chalmers Borella

Infobox Military Person
name=Albert Chalmers Borella
lived=7 August 1881 – Death date and age|1968|2|7|1881|8|7|df=yes
placeofbirth=Borung, Victoria
placeofdeath= New South Wales, Australia


caption=
nickname=
allegiance=Australia
serviceyears=1915-1919
1939-1945
rank=Captain
commands=
unit=26th Battalion (Q. and T), Australian Imperial Force
battles=World War I
World War II
awards=Victoria Cross
Military Medal
relations=
laterwork=

Albert Chalmers Borella VC, MM (7 August 1881–7 February 1968) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Albert Chalmers Borella was born at Borung, Victoria (38 mi/60 km north-west of Bendigo).

He enlisted in Townsville, Queensland and had to go to some effort to do so. At the outbreak of World War I the military authorities were not accepting volunteers from the Northern Territory. Borella accepted a job as a cook for a survey party in Tennant Creek and in January 1915 Borella set out for Darwin to volunteer for active service. With Charlie, an Aboriginal man, he walked 88 miles (140 km) and swam across flooded rivers. After borrowing a horse at Powell Creek, just north of Renner Springs, Northern Territory, he rode to Katherine where he caught the mail coach to the railhead at Pine Creek. He sailed from Darwin to Townsville on 8 March 1915 with four other men who were among the first 15 volunteers for active service from the Northern Territory. [ [http://notes.nt.gov.au/lant/hansard/HANSARD8.NSF/0/a6b74595fe83d4746925662400029ea2?OpenDocument Part 1 - Debates - Thursday 23 April 1998 ] ]

Borella received a Military Medal for conspicuous bravery on 11 May 1917 [LondonGazette|issue=30064|date=11 May 1917|startpage=4600|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=25 July|accessyear=2008] and also the Victoria Cross on 16 September 1918 while a Lieutenant in the 26th Battalion (Q. and T), Australian Imperial Force. [LondonGazette|issue=30903|date=13 September 1918|startpage=11075|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=25 July|accessyear=2008]

His citation for the Cross, gained in 1918 in Villers-Bretonneux, France, at the age of 37, reads in part: "During the period 17/18 July... Lieutenant Borella, whilst leading his platoon, charged and captured an enemy machine-gun, shooting two gunners. He then led his party, by now reduced to 10 men and two Lewis guns, against a very strongly held trench, using his revolver and later a rifle with great effect and causing many casualties. Two large dug-outs were also bombed and 30 prisoners taken...." He received his VC at Sandringham from King George V.

At the end of the war Borella was invalided back to Australia, arriving in Melbourne on New Year's Day 1919. From 1920, Borella was farming on a soldier settlement block at Hensley Park, near Hamilton in Victoria. In 1924 he stood for the seat of Dundas in the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the National Party candidate, but was defeated.

Borella enlisted in World War II, and served in Australia from October 1939 to May 1945, obtaining the rank of Captain [ [http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=577831 World War II Nominal Roll] ]

Borella died on 7 February 1968 and was buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery, North Albury, New South Wales. In 1977 a street in Albury was renamed Borella Road in his honour and a plaque unveiled on a memorial nearby, where the road begins. His Victoria Cross is privately held.

References

External links

*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
*VCs of the First World War - Spring Offensive 1918 (Gerald Gliddon, 1997)
* [http://www.aif.adfa.edu.au:8080/showPerson?key=BORELLA/A/275 AIF database entry for Albert Borella]